North America

The USSR showcases its military might at the 1961 annual May Day parade in Red Square, Moscow. (Photo by Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)

Nuclear fall-out: how the USA & USSR became bitter enemies

Rosa Parks rides on a Montgomery bus

50 important historical events: from Sutton Hoo to Rosa Parks

Around 200,000 freed slaves, like this soldier, joined the Union military in the Civil Wa

The Emancipation ProclamationYour guide to Abraham Lincoln's proclamation

The CIA: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

East German leader Willi Stoph greets West German chancellor Willy Brandt at Erfurt. (Getty images)

Cold War summits: how USA & USSR leaders worked to end the conflict. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev together

What brought a thaw in the Cold War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bridal accessories, including lace gloves and pearls (Alchemia | Dreamstime.com)

Beyond fashion: 6 accessories that reveal changing attitudes in society, from the Georgians to the 20th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

National Woman’s Party activists sew a star onto their ‘ratification flag'

Why we should remember…The 19th amendment. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Second World War allies Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (left to right) at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. East and west would soon become bitter rivals, however

The Cold War: 9 key questions

George C Marshall, architect of the Marshall Plan, which pledged billions of dollars to help rebuild war-torn Europe

What was the Marshall Plan?

President Truman, seen here in 1948

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Craig Charles and Muhammad Ali

My history heroCraig Charles chooses Muhammad Ali. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hollywood history: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Reverend Spencer Parsons, head of the Chicago branch of the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS), an interfaith group dedicated to helping women obtain abortions before 'Roe v Wade'

The American clergy who helped women get abortions before Roe v Wade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard Nixon at the White House with his family following his resignation as president, 9 August 1974. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Richard Nixon's final address: the day the president departed the White House. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Reconstructing black lives in the Antebellum South. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Moses Roper, the first African-American fugitive from slavery to make a home in Britain

Moses Roper: the story of an American fugitive from slavery in Britain

A painting showing a man and woman side by side with somber expressions. The man holds a pitchfork.

What great paintings sayAmerican Gothic By Grant Wood, 1930. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Newspaper front page with headline 'Gen. Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer'

Why we should rememberThe Roswell Incident. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration showing the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act, passed by Congress in 1850. The law aimed to make it easier for slaveholders to reclaim runaway ‘property’ in the free states, and contributed to rising political tension. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

The story of the American Civil War32 key moments in the landmark conflict

Painting showing the surrender at Yorktown – a man on a horse moves between two lines of cavalry

When and how did the American Revolution end?

The battle of Brooklyn (aka the battle of Long Island), 27 August 1776

American Revolutionary War: the 9 battles that made the United States

A late 18th-century portrait of proto-feminist and first lady Abigail Adams

Women in the American Revolution: what were their lives like?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of silversmith Paul Revere, with his head resting on his hand.

19 key figures of the American Revolution, from royals to revolutionaries

A brief history of US abortion law, before and after Roe v Wade

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Treaty of Paris 1783: how to negotiate an exit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The first major clash of the war of American independence, at Bunker Hill

Tea, taxes and the taking up of arms: a timeline of the American Revolution

A fierce clash between colonists and British troops in Boston on 5 March 1770

The American Revolution: your guide to the 18th-century war of independence

An oil painting by Benjamin West shows some of the main belligerents of the Seven Years’ War, a conflict that lay the foundations for future discord between Native Americans and the British and French empires

How did the American Revolution begin?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Spanish flee Tenochtitlan under fierce fire during La Noche Triste.

Why we should remember…When Spanish conquistadors were forced to flee the Aztec capital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.